Obama driving Americans away from big spending

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“More than a third of Americans now believe that President Obama’s policies are hurting the economy, and confidence in his ability to create jobs is sharply eroding among his base,” The Washington Post reported today.

Indeed, according to the Post poll, 57 percent of Americans currently disapprove of Obama’s handling of the economy and 37 percent believe his policies have made the economy worse. Only 29 percent of Americans believe Obama’s economic policies have made things better. The Post goes on to report that liberal activists hope Obama will shift from spending cuts to new spending programs after the debt fight is over. “Many liberal Democrats are hoping that Obama can pivot from defending Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid to putting forward his own plans for creating jobs,” Campaign for America’s Future Roger Hickey tells the Post.

There’s just one problem: Obama’s failed record on the economy seems to have convinced Americans that spending cuts, not more spending, are the better way to create jobs. The Post does not report this in their write up of the poll, but for the first time since they have been asking the question, more Americans (47 percent) now say that large cuts in federal spending will do more to create jobs than to cut jobs (44 percent).

The Post poll echoes a Bloomberg poll last month that found 55 percent of Americans believe “spending cuts and tax cuts” are the most likely policies to be successful in growing the U.S. economy and creating jobs. According to Bloomberg only 17% believe “government needs to spend more to stimulate the economy.”